The Israeli parliament has voted to pass a law banning the UN's Palestinian Regee Agency (Unrwa) from operating inside Israel and East Jerusalem occupied by Israel, within three months.
Communications between UNRWA staff and Israeli officials will also be cut off, greatly reducing the agency's ability to operate in Gaza and the Israeli-controlled West Bank.
Cooperation with the Israeli military – which controls all crossings into Gaza – is essential for UNRWA to deliver aid to the war-torn region. It's a big UN agency working on the ground there.
UNRWA employees will no longer have legal protection in Israel, and the organization's headquarters in East Jerusalem will be closed.
Many countries, including the US, UK and Germany, have expressed serious concern about the move. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy called it “absolutely wrong”, while UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said it would “deepen the suffering of the Palestinian people”.
The US State Department said UNRWA played a “crucial” role in the distribution of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Almost all of the enclave's more than two million people depend on aid and services from the agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “UNRWA staff involved in acts of terrorism against Israel must be held accountable”, but added that “continuous aid must always be available to Gaza”.
“We are ready to work with our international partners to ensure that Israel continues to provide aid to the people of Gaza in a way that will not threaten Israel's security,” he told X.
Israel has opposed UNRWA for decades, although this opposition has intensified in recent years.
Israel says UNRWA workers have joined Hamas in Gaza, saying 19 UNRWA workers were involved in the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack.
I The UN investigated Israel's claim and expelled nine of the suspectsbut said Israel had not provided evidence for the broader allegations. Unrwa insists that cooperation with Hamas is only to enable the organization to do its job.
Israel's parliament, the Knesset, approved the two bills by an overwhelming majority on Monday evening.
Introducing the law, Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset's foreign affairs and security committee, accused Unrwa of being used as “a cover for terrorist activities”.
“There is a deep connection between the terrorist organization (Hamas) and UNRWA, and Israel cannot tolerate that,” he said in parliament.
Unrwa – the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees – has been providing a range of services and support including health care and education to millions of Palestinians in Gaza for decades.
Since the war started last year, the organization's presence on the ground has made it a vital part of the efforts to get aid to the people, almost all of whom depend on aid to survive.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the ban as “unprecedented” and said it “contradicts the UN Charter and violates the obligations of the State of Israel under international law”.
He said the people of Gaza had already endured “hell,” adding: “We will deprive more than 650,000 girls and boys there of an education, putting an entire generation of children at risk.”
About two and a half million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA in the Israeli-controlled West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
In northern Gaza, where the Israeli army is conducting a military campaign against Hamas fighters, hundreds of thousands of people are living in extremely difficult conditions.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday that “the Israeli army is subjecting the entire community to bombings, sieges and the risk of starvation”.
Many Palestinians believe that the Israeli military is implementing a “surrender or starve” plan in northern Gaza, which will see the forced expulsion of all the estimated 400,000 residents of the south, followed by a siege of any remaining Hamas.
The Israeli military has denied having the program and says it is making sure civilians are out of harm's way.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas following its attack on Israel on October 7, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.
More than 42,710 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the health ministry run by Hamas in the area.
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